why resolutions never work

Give yourself a 90-day deadline and add the Why & What to your resolutions for 2018.

So it’s all over the whole Christmas/New year break, did you get want you expected or wanted and have you set your resolutions? Big sigh……

I hate that term resolution, what does that even mean anyway?

(quick google search later = resolution means a firm decision to do or not to do something).

Great that means today I make a firm decision not to eat McVities shortcake biscuits this year. Right up until I have had a shitty week and Lorna brings in a packet mid-year. That’s the issue with resolutions, it is a decision to do or not do something but there is no outcome or reason attached to it to make us accountable.

I much prefer to set goals, and I don’t set them for the year either.

One thing I have learned is that if you give yourself a deadline of 1 month to get something done you will get it done in 1 month, not 1 week or 1 day. But if you set yourself a deadline for 1 day then you will get something done in 1 day.

I think 365 days is a long old slog to achieve your goals or resolute not to do something.

So why not break up the year into quarters, 3 simple months amounting to just 90 days. Not so far-reaching and easy to break down your goals into smaller bite-sized achievable chunks.

For me, crushing my business and personal goals is all about Q1 to Q4 in 2018. I am telling you from experience this works, 2017 far exceeded my expectations, and it is all down to 90-day deadlines.

But let’s talk about goals because there is something very important to be learned about setting them. Most people do it all wrong!

Do you set out your goals like this?

“I will loose weight in 2018”

“I will get new clients in 2018”

“I will not spend so much money in 2018”

(this are hypothetical BTW, just fill in with your resolutions)

These are not actual goals! yep you heard me….they do look like them I know, but there is a very important ingredient missing. These are just lies we tell ourselves in order for us to fail.

Actually, they are projects or tasks and they are the what you will do with your goals.

Your goals should be a WHY you’re doing something and have an outcome.

What does this mean? Well if I said to you I will make an extra £1000 per month in 2018. I would have no clue how I am going to do it, but I have told you it will happen so I have made my self-accountable. The outcome of earning £1000 per month is the missing ingredient. Having a reason WHY your doing something is the hardest but most important part of goal setting.

So the above should read more like;

“I will be a size 16 by July 2018 and wear a red dress to that wedding”

“I will earn £1000 a month”

“I will save £3000 to go on holiday to Spain for 2 weeks in July”

So look at the difference.

I have made my self-accountable, and have a reason for each of the goals, but I don’t have a clue how to get there. (don’t panic, that will come later)

In order for me to be a size 16 by July, well I need to lose weight and exercise. Those are actions that I need to do to achieve my goal. (Remember that first list?)

For me to earn £1000 a month I need new clients and I need to learn new skills to bring them in.

If I want to go on holiday in July, I need to invest my money into things which will earn me more so I can save.

Do you see that turning those 3 original resolutions or goals into something more accountable, you now have your

WHY

and then under each WHY you can list your WHAT.

What are you going to do to achieve your why?

On new years eve, John and I spend a lot of time looking at what we achieved in 2017, and setting our goals for 2018. But we don’t set them for the year, we set them for the first 90 days, that important first quarter.

So the idea is that by breaking down our goals, and working on them in smaller chunks we are more likely to succeed.

Here is our method.

step 1; list your goals, this is an unlimited and anything goes list! Regardless of how you think they can be achieved. If you want a Porsche and currently driving a 2CV, it will seem out of reach, but you never know….if you want that car, the first step is to add it to your list. make it known you are working toward it.

step 2;We then look at our needs for the first 90 days, and pick 3 goals we would like to achieve in this first quarter which matches our needs. for example, If I want to go on holiday in July – Q3, then I need to earn more money in Q1, and build my business to do this, so I will look at goals which will achieve this. Like increasing sales or releasing a new course.

step 3; list out your 3 goals again and make sure you write down a figure or end result. it is important to list your outcome and don’t leave this open-ended. This is done on a sheet of paper or in a book you will see every day. divide the sheet into 2 columns and your goal will be on the left. the right side is for step 4.

I will be honest with you now, this for me is the most difficult part, I hate failure and don’t want to ‘not achieve or reach’ my goals, so if I writing down a figure or outcome which today I might find crazy,Am I setting my self up to fail? But this is false, because my adding that outcome, you are in fact talking one-step forward towards it. it is incredible, how by announcing your intentions the universe gives you opportunities to achieve it. I am always amazed but trust this works every time.

step 4; then list the tasks or projects (about 3) you need to do to complete this goal. This goes in the right hand column the deadline in 90 days. for example;

Goal

Projects

earn £1000 a month

get 3 new clients a day

market my nail art to attract new business

improve my skills and get known for something different.

So before you carry on with your year, take a moment (about an hour) to really set your goals and become accountable. I promise you your first quarter is going to blow your mind if you follow this simple WHY & WHAT trick to goal setting.

Let me know in the comments what your goals are and make yourself accountable or if you want help with setting them up. I am happy to help.